


Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Chocobo

by howlsawiz



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Fusion, Angst, Depression, M/M, Post-Game
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-06
Updated: 2017-04-06
Packaged: 2018-10-15 11:50:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10555838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/howlsawiz/pseuds/howlsawiz
Summary: It has been a few years since Noctis made the ultimate sacrifice and brought back light to the world. All of the memories of him are tearing Prompto apart. He has to do something.





	

The glow of the camera screen lit up Prompto’s face. He often met four am like this, alone in bed staring at stills of a happier time. One by one, twelve-year-old memories flashed across the screen. A selfie with a chocobo, shots of Noctis fishing, group pictures at places he never dreamed of visiting, selfies with his best friend. All smiles and fun, at time when they didn’t know the destruction they were about to face. The loss they were going to endure.

Tears silently escaped his eyes the further back in time he went. He mourned the loss of Noct not once, but twice. The first time, he had gotten used to possibly never seeing him again. He did his best to keep the rest of the bros together, but in the end, he wasn’t enough. The eternal darkness wasn’t that bad, really. He pretended it was all just a bad dream and one day he’d wake up in the tent, curled up next to Noct. That decade was just a nightmare he’d tell Noctis about in the morning.

Then there was The End, where he stood and fumbled with his photos so Noct could have one happy memory to take with him, not knowing what to say or how to say goodbye. Prompto paused on the picture he took. Staring back at him was a younger version of himself and Noctis making goofy faces at the lens. He remembered that day all too well; bright and sunny just before they ambushed an Imperial base. The danger never felt so real before Altissia. That was when things started going to shit.

_Stand tall, my friends._ How could he possibly stand tall now that Noct was gone? The only person who had ever truly accepted him was never coming back and it weighed on him like a behemoth on his shoulders. What could possibly be in a world without Noct that would be worth standing tall for? Ignis and Gladio had gone off to do their own things, leaving Prompto alone. Ignis with his new restaurant and Gladio having joined Insomnia 2.0’s military left little time for getting together like the good old days. Prompto’s photography business started to decline almost as quickly as he had in the past few months. There was only one person left who would regularly answer his phone calls.

Prompto shut off his camera and reached for his phone on the night stand. With nimble fingers he dialed in a number and pressed call.

One ring. Two rings. Three...

“Prompto?” Her voice was tired. He had obviously woken her up. What time was it anyway? “It’s almost five, are you okay?” she yawned.

“I’m going to do it,” Prompto said. The words spilled from his mouth slowly. He swallowed the lump forming in his throat.

“Do what, Prompto?” Iris asked, fully attentive now. Prompto had been a mess for a long time now, _I’m going to do it_ could mean a number of things.

“I’m going to call that doctor.” He paused to try and steady himself, feeling the uncontrollable sobbing rising in his chest and throat. He let out a shaky breath and continued, his voice wavering, “I can live like this anymore.”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line. “Are you sure?” She seemed too calm about this.

He had gone over the possible reactions of each of the people he planned to inform about this decision. None of them were positive.

“What am I supposed to do, Iris? I have nothing left. I’m nothing without him.” He got to his feet, pacing the small bedroom. There was no stopping the fresh wave of tears free-flowing down his cheeks. “I can’t go down the street without hearing his name from someone who knew nothing about him. You’re in Lestallum, Ignis is too busy with his business to answer a goddamn phone call once in a while, and Gladio is gods know where.”

Another pause, a muffled conversation to someone else whose voice sounded familiar, then a sigh. “At least come see me first, okay? I have something for you. Do you think you can leave later today?”

“I…yeah, sure I guess. Give – give me a bit to pack, okay?”

“I’ll see you soon then.” The call ended and Prompto was left standing in the middle of his room, staring at his phone.

What was Iris talking about? Something for him? He sighed and tossed his phone onto the bed, deciding it best to shower for the first time in days if he was going to Lestallum. He didn’t need to show how bad things had gotten.

 

One hot shower later, Prompto was back in the middle of his bedroom. This time, he was dripping wet with a towel wrapped around his thin waist, in a desperate search for clean clothes. The thing with falling apart is, remembering to do basic human things like laundry or bathing or even eating is the hardest thing to do. It had been weeks since he last cleaned a single garment, so he put on whatever smelled the least and tried to cover up what smell there was with body spray. A hippie’s bath, Ignis used to call it when Prompto and Noctis would try to cover the smell of them camping for three days straight with a strong cologne. Noct… His breath caught in his lungs and his stomach flipped upon recalling the memory. He shook the thought from his head and did his best to tighten his belt.

_This has to end._

On top of a stack of prints from past shoots on his desk, a business card with gold lettering glittered in the early morning light. Prompto grabbed it, the photos tumbling down onto a pile of clothes on the floor, and hurriedly dialed the number listed into his phone. His finger paused on the call button on the screen, but only for a brief moment before continuing with the call.

The line rang twice and a receptionist answered with a perky _good morning_.

“Hi, um, my name is Prompto Argentum and I would like to make an appointment to see Dr. Retinentia.” His hands shook. It was hard to breathe. He was actually doing it.

“Of course, now would this be your first time making an appointment with us?” He could hear the ticking of nails on a keyboard. This was actually happening, for real.

“Uh, first time.”

“Okay, so you will need a preliminary session with him before we can do anything else and let’s see…it looks like he has an opening next Thursday at 2:30. Would that work for you, Mr. Argentum?”

Prompto hadn’t had a client in weeks. Any day would work for him. “Um, y-yeah, sure that sounds good. Thank you.”

“Alright, we will see you next Thursday at 2:30 then. Have a good day.” She was too perky for such a line of work, but then again, he guessed she would have to be.

“You too.” Prompto hung up and stuffed the phone in his pocket.

 He quickly stuffed a backpack with a change of clothes and his toothbrush, grabbed his keys and spare change off the night stand, and headed out the door. Each room in his apartment was just as messy and depressed as his bedroom. The pro of living alone was he had no one there to nag him to suck it up and clean. The con was he had no one there to nag him to suck it up and clean. He locked the door behind him and slipped down the stairs to the parking garage.

His car was nothing special, just a rusted out clunker Cindy had fixed up for him in exchange for some errands. The door screeched as he opened it and got in and tossed the backpack into the seat next to him. It took him a few tries to get it to start up as it had been a while since it had moved from its spot, but finally it clanked and coughed to life. Something rattled under the hood, but he never bothered to have Cindy look at it and it never seemed to get better or worse so he left it alone.

Slowly, he pulled out of the parking spot, out the garage, and into a warm, cloudless morning. The sun was promising a gorgeous day, all thanks to Noctis. Prompto dug out a pair of sunglasses from the center console and put them on. It was going to be a long drive to Lestallum.


End file.
